Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stock Position Reduced by Narwhal Capital Management

Narwhal Capital Management decreased its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 16.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,315 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,845 shares during the quarter. Narwhal Capital Management’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.33.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE LUV opened at $30.50 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.09. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $35.18. The firm has a market cap of $18.27 billion, a PE ratio of 234.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 553.89%.

Southwest Airlines Profile

Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a total fleet of 817 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.